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SYLLABUS: PROJECT MANAGEMENT BA 462
Section 1,
Monday/Wednesday 8:00–9:50 AM – Bexell 321
Winter 2006
Instructor: John Sloan
Office: 340 Bexell Hall
Office Phone: 737-6042
E-mail: SLOANJ@bus.oregonstate.edu
Office hours:
Monday 10:00 – 11:30
Tuesday 10:00
– 11:30
and by
appointment
COURSE
DESCRIPTION:
Welcome! This course provides a socio-technical perspective
to the management of projects. The
content deals with planning, scheduling, organizing, and managing projects -
e.g., product development, construction, information systems, new business, and
special events. Primary class emphasis
is on the project management process and tools.
Today, more and more companies are realizing that managing projects is a
vital part of everyone’s job. Mastery of
key tools and concepts could give you significant competitive advantage in the
marketplace.
COURSE
OBJECTIVES:
- To
master key concepts, techniques, and decision tools used by project
managers
- To
identify critical behaviors for successfully managing projects, and to
prepare the student to effectively participate as a project team member
- To
understand how to develop and use a complete computer-based information
system for managing projects
- To
have fun!
RESOURCES:
LECTURE SLIDES: Posted in course materials at the OSU
Business website.
EXERCISES: Posted in course materials at the OSU
Business website.
SOFTWARE: The “official” software for the class will be
Microsoft Project 2003 which is available in the COB computer lab and on the
textbook CD.
MS PROJECT 2003 TUTORIALS: MS Project
training videos developed by Dr. Erik Larson are at
http://faculty.bus.oregonstate.edu/larson/facultypage/project02/index.htm These tutorials are highly recommended.
It is imperative that you bring the
text and hard copies of the course materials exercises to class
CLASS
PROCEDURES AND PROTOCOL:
Professional
conduct in the classroom is expected at all times. This involves mutual respect,
including turning off
cell phones and audible paging devices, as well as only having one
person talking at a
time.
COURSE GRADING:
All students are
expected to abide by the university rules on academic honesty, which forbid
cheating or plagiarism. All work in this
course must be completed solely by the student submitting the work. Violations of this requirement will be
formally addressed, and will result in failing the class per the process in
Academic Regulations AR15. This does not
preclude the opportunity for students to work together before submitting assignments.
Regular class attendance is strongly encouraged. If you miss class, it is your responsibility
to pick up missed handouts, etc. I strongly suggest you team up with another
student to cover for you in the event you do miss a class.
Exams:
There will be two
exams during the quarter, a midterm and a non-cumulative final. Exams will cover the lecture material, the
assigned readings, and any other material covered in class.
Full-credit make-up
exams are allowed in emergency situations, provided notice to, and permission
by the instructor are given at least five days before the scheduled exam, or
with a university-approved absence for a last-minute situation.
Term
Paper:
There are four
required submissions for the term paper (TP .1 through TP .4). Due dates for the TP submissions are listed
in the schedule below. No credit will be
given for late assignments unless the same emergency terms for late exams are
met. Additional information is below as
well as in course
materials at the
OSU Business website.
Assistance with the
required work, including MS Project 2003, is provided during the instructor’s
office hours and at the TA help sessions in the COB computer lab.
Optional MS Project Exercises:
There
are four optional MS Project exercises that you are not required to hand
in. No credit will be given for
completing these exercises. However, if
you choose to hand them in on the due dates, I will give you written feedback
which may help you with your work on the term project.
Final
grades will be based on the following distribution:
Examination
1 100
points
Examination
2 100
4 Quizzes,
10 points each
40
Term Paper 135
(5-5-25-100)
Class
Participation / Presentation
25
Total 400 points
Grades will be
assigned based on the following scale:
A > 92% C 72
- 78%
A
minus 90 - 92% C minus 70 - 72%
B
plus 88
- 90% D plus 68 - 70%
B 82 - 88% D 62 - 68%
B
minus 80 - 82% D minus 60 - 62%
C
plus 78 - 80% F < 60%
TERM PAPER:
The primary purpose of the term paper
is to give you an opportunity to apply and demonstrate your understanding of
the tools and principles covered in the class to a project of your choice. Preferably, the project should be one from
your past, present, or future work situation.
If this is not feasible, pick a project you would like to do that is of
sufficient magnitude to demonstrate all the tools and principles covered. (Note:
A one or two-person project is too small to meet the needs of the
project. Plan on a project with four or
more staff who work directly for you, the project manager.) In some cases you may take a large project
and only work with a part of the major project.
Extra points are given for creativity and for those projects that
demonstrate your understanding of the total project management information
system. Some "doctoring" of
your projects may be necessary to allow you to demonstrate use of the
tools. In any event, the number of
activities/tasks in your project should be limited to 20-30 (these are
activities that require resources). Any
deviation from this requirement must be approved by the instructor.
A very important part of the class
(and a requirement for successful completion of the Term Paper) is developing
skills in the use of a project management software tool – MS Project 2003. TA help sessions in the COB computer lab will
be provided during the term.
The term paper should follow the
process outlined in the class materials.
That is, write a scope statement, identify deliverables, and develop a
work breakdown structure (WBS). This
information will be used to develop a project network plan using the AON
(activity-on-node) format for establishing a timeline. Next, schedule the resources and identify
scheduling conflicts that will require revising the plan. After the schedule is in place, make a
financial requirements schedule.
Identify potential management issues that are likely to arise in completing
this project. What should you, as the
Project Manager, look out for in managing this project? What are the keys to success?
Next, you will assume the project
has been in process 30-70 percent of the project duration and has not
materialized as planned in schedule and/or budget. Give a project update, a status report on
schedule, cost variance, and time. Give
management a roll-up of schedule and cost variance in your WBS/OBS. Discuss options and associated trade-offs
for responding to delays, problems, and cost over-runs. Choose and justify an
appropriate response given the nature and purpose of your project. Discuss the
specific management problem you encountered and how you resolved it.
TERM PAPER – GENERAL OUTLINE
